Despite giving the closure three readings, Cranbrook council has decided not to close 1st Street South between Victoria Avenue & 23rd Avenue South.
The section of road was supposed to be temporary when it was established in 1973 but has remained open.
The road does not meet current traffic safety standards as the road is a steep slope across a sidewalk with poor visibility.
“Folks are coming from different perspectives but certainly safety concerns have been identified,” said councillor Lynnette Wray.
“People have different thoughts on the best way to address those concerns but there is a pretty general consensus that there are safety concerns with that intersection.”
In a public hearing on Monday, residents expressed concerns with the closure of the road as it would force all traffic to the 24th Avenue North intersection.
Mayor Wayne Price says he wasn’t confident that that road is safe enough for the increased traffic.
“I’m not comfortable until we’ve got a solution on how we’re going to handle that traffic and the situation on 24th,” he said.
“There are vehicles lined up and the sight lines are no good. i think it’s a really bad situation going in there. I can’t support it. I like the idea of getting rid of it and I understand the liabilities but we would just be shifting the liability from one area to another.”
It was shot down in a 4-3 vote with Price, councilors Wes Graham, Ron Popoff and Wayne Stetski voting against and Norma Blissett, Mike Peabody and Wray voting in favour.
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